I once had an idea to enhance range safety. When you saw somebody doing something gooberish at the range, you would offer them a free hat or t-shirt that said "I'm A Moron! Watch My Muzzle!"
The plan fizzled because, despite being free, nobody wanted the merchandise.
Now Taurus has figured out a way to charge hundreds of dollars for essentially the same thing, a big, shiny goober indicator, and people will gobble them up like mushrooms at a Phish concert.
(H/T to Unc.)
Wow. They didn't just hop over the shark. They achieved escape velocity.
ReplyDeleteThey had no choice but to go there and pile on, of course. It's the Judge. It has fulfilled its high and lonely destiny.
The BSGI special. Tam wins the internets again. Call it the "Goober Special" for short.
ReplyDeleteThe only way they could have trolled yet more with this thing would have been to use a polymer frame with accessory rails.
ReplyDeleteTaurus seems to issue model variations with greater regularity than Joe Biden issues silly statements. Sometimes I wonder if they make more than a half dozen of some of their guns.
It will sell, no doubt about it, so I imagine Taurus will laugh all the way to the bank.
Smith and Wesson Governor w/Zombie Green Aftermarket Grips. Look for it at a Gun Shop near you.
ReplyDeleteGuess Rare Dark Earth is now Last Season's Color, huh?
Wonder how Ruger will respond?
And will any of them cut a Deal with K-Bar to make up a "Zombie Killing Kit?"
It's all Larry Corriea's Fault, you know.
And T-Bolt's, of course.
Imagine the fun of loading one round of .454 Casul among the 2.5" .410 shells and waiting for the screams of surprise from the back side of the Zombie Killer!
ReplyDeleteSigh.... Somedays its not worth it to chew through the straps!
ReplyDeleteHey! Easy on Goobers, there, folks. Some of us know how to be safe at the range and have good enough taste to think that this pistol is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. As Tam said, Taurus continues to offer absolutely nothing that I'd be interested in buying.
ReplyDeleteNo one ever went bankrupt underestimating the intelligence of the American people.
ReplyDeleteWord Verification - pimantep - the leader of the mummy hoards which will replace Zombies in the coming year.
Anon 11:24,
ReplyDelete"pimantep - the leader of the mummy hoards which will replace Zombies in the coming year."
HA! :D
Your internets is in the mail. :)
OTOH...
ReplyDeleteIt does offer the ability of three different ways to get carpal tunnel in one package. Four if you count both sizes of 20 GA.
Gmac
Goes to show. Give something away, and nobody wants it. Charge top dollar for it, and they will beat down your door.
ReplyDeleteY'gotta admit the glass-fronted box is a cute idea.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, I think that shark can consider itself thoroughly and definitively jumped.
WV=garbe. "No version of the Taurus Judge will ever be part of my garbe."
“Some women hold up dresses that are so ugly and they always say the same thing: 'This looks much better on.' On what? On fire?” -- Rita Rudner
ReplyDeleteAre we sure that Taurus isn't run by a bunch of anti-gun Bloomberg people?
ReplyDeleteYou've summed up everything my pre-coffee brain was thinking when I saw that this morning. Good gods Taurus...
ReplyDeleteAnother something for folk's to rush out and buy so they can sell or trade it after they shoot it the first time...sigh...
ReplyDeleteGave me a fit of the giggles when I looked at it.
ReplyDeleteStill, it's a bangnboomer, so it has a redeeming feature.
wv: haulter. Yeah, it may take a long moment to haulter down from full stroke recoil.
Wonder how Ruger will respond?
ReplyDeleteWith the new Ruger Super Zombie! You don't have to actually fire it--just read the writing on the barrel in its entirety and the zombies will die of boredom.
What baffles me is they turned the gun upside down so they could show the inscription on the cylinder. It's as if they zombies already ate their brains and they couldn't figure out the writing was "up" on the other side. Maybe the zombies ate the whole right side of the gun?
ReplyDeleteWhat gun for zombie memes
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the smart guy at Taurus realized some years back that most gunowners don't own them for shooting, or because they actually need them, they own them just because they can.
ReplyDeleteTaurus'll ride this one to the bank just like Hornady did the ammo...
Pure Ninja awesomeness. It's almost as iconic as a gold-plated .50 Desert Eagle... which sold for $5,000 BTW. The URL, if you're curious: http://bit.ly/syIhgo
ReplyDelete"The plan fizzled because, despite being free, nobody wanted the merchandise."
ReplyDeleteI don't believe you for a second. No self respecting goober ever turns down a free hat, or for that matter, purchases a hat. Hats are things people give you.
Ruger hit the market first with their Zombie Slayer LCP.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.impactguns.com/ruger-lcp-zombie-slayer-380-acp-3721.aspx
I misremembered the name as "Zombie Destroyer". And before I was able to relive myself of that, I started writing the screenplay for "Zombie Destroyer".
ReplyDeleteYou see, it is 1919, and a disgraced former German naval officer has to fight off a horde of zombie sailors who have taken over captured German battleships and are planning to shell British targets in an attempt to restart WWI...
(I'll leave the climax of the screenplay as an exercise for the reader.)
I honestly would not have a problem with zombie-themed guns if they just weren't so bad at it. Why yes, a bulky, inaccurate, low-capacity handgun that's hard to find ammo for and weighs more than some AR-15's is the perfect weapon to see you through the zombie apocalypse! They ought to switch out the "zombie responder" cylinder with one that says "full retard," it'd be more honest.
ReplyDeleteJesus wept. No shotguns for zombies. ESPECIALLY no .410 revolver shotguns for zombies.
ReplyDeleteHey, that gives me an idea for when I need to sell off any seldom used guns in the safe to get other guns. Spray paint them bright green and write "ZOMBIE SLAYER DELUX" on them.
ReplyDeleteAnd here I thought that "Big, shiny goober indicator" was Air Force One.
ReplyDeleteOK, it's ugly. It has no real-world utility. It may be of dubious quality. It's an outright stupid concept.
ReplyDeleteBUT...
There's a facet of the shooting sports called "fun". This can be had by carefully putting bullet after bullet through a single hole at very long range; by putting several bullets into a small target while racing the clock; or by putting shot or bullets into various animals from a freezing-cold blind or stand at oh-dark-thirty in the morning.
Fun may ALSO be had by blasting tin cans, sporting clays, old cars, or boxes filled with explosives; by seeing just how fast one can empty the magazine and to hell with actually hitting anything; or by seeing just how much BOOM one can tolerate ("Lemme try that!").
It may also be had by purchasing a firearm with little or no real-world utility or collector value.
If Taurus gets a few people to think - and VOTE - that "you can have my Zombie Responder when you pry it from my cold, (un)dead fingers", then I'd say they've done all us RKBA types a real service.
And who knows? Some of these goobers, after trying a few shots with that cannon, might develop a taste for the shooting sports, leading them to buy a 1911, 686, M&P, AR-15, etc., to... um... keep the hand cannon company.
If you "rack it" by banging the cylinder shut, will the zombies run away in fright?
ReplyDeleteIf not, then how will you deal with the black-hoodie zombies of the Black Bloc? They'll surround you, laughing.
A few people here get it - those that recognize that Ruger is "laughing all the way to the bank."
ReplyDeleteTam, of all people - YOU! You who worked in the retail business! Have you forgot how much every for-profit enterprise...not just firearms but EVERYONE...depends on those with more money than sense?
We slag the well-heeled morons of the world at our peril.
If I worked for Taurus I'd make guns that looked like vegetables if I thought they'd sell.
And where are you with your idea? That disposable, non-reloadable thingamajig? It's an idea whose time has just about come. After all, if anything belonged in a yellow "In Case of Zombies Break Glass" case it'd be your idea.
gvi
Sorry, Tam, but that's funny right there.
ReplyDeleteNot singing rubber fish stupid or chia pet stupid, but funny.
I'm with docjim505 on this one.
gvi,
ReplyDeleteAnd if I were running a gun company, this post would be singing a different tune.
If I can't bitch on my private blog, where can I bitch? ;)
Dwight Brown,
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea for a screenplay, but "1919", Kaiserliche Marineand "scantily-clad female lead" just don't go together!
Although... Hmmm... Upon further reflection, Emma Stone might look good in a jumper and bell-bottom trousers. Then again, Emma Stone would look good in anything short of a burqa.
OK, I take back what I wrote: full speed ahead with your screenplay!
;-)
Buzz,
Thanks.
Cool. But can I get it in pink?
ReplyDelete(Saw a pink 1911 on American Guns last night, so that Taurus is somewhat blase' now...)
The problem isn't what the gun chambers, what it looks like or what's written on it. The PROBLEM is that, with zombies, you by definition are dealing with HORDES.
ReplyDeleteIndividually zombies are soft targets but there are usually zillions of them. You don't NEED the power a .454 Casull, you need large magazine capacity. This gun is all wrong for that.
Now, if the threat were gargoyles or something that would be different.
Oh, I dunno. This is more a logical extension to marketing pink .22 Crickets to little girls, or colored plastic fantastic handguns, or a DeWalt AR15, Hello Kitty guns and so on. Just because it has no real use doesn't make it not cool for certain people. You wouldn't want to drive a race ready jet powered or a fuelly car to work every day, but having one around to play with would be a blast.
ReplyDeleteOne of my best friends went through a learning curve when he bought a Beretta 92 because he was a fan of the Lethal Weapon movies and that was what Riggs used. He learned later that gun was a poor choice for his preferences, but it got him started.
I wouldn't want one, and I'd rather see Taurus invest a lot more in QC than coming out with toys like this, but it's not The End of the World As We Know It. My biggest problem with their concept is if they capture a new customer to the shooting sports and it doesn't work right, they might be discouraged and leave us. Otherwise more power to 'em.
docjim505:
ReplyDelete" Emma Stone might look good in a jumper and bell-bottom trousers."
She'll look even better when that jumper and bell-bottom trousers get soaking wet at the end of the movie, after she and her love interest (the disgraced former captain) finish scuttiling all the German battleships in Scapa Flow to stop the zombie destroyer attack.
See, I had a reason for picking 1919...
They can paint it pink and chamber it for lawn darts, but as long as it doesn't come with a frickin' ignition key thingie ("you damn hordes hang on while I find my damn KEY!")...then it's an improvement for El Toro.
ReplyDeleteSo Tam,
ReplyDeleteyou could always sell some View From the Porch Tam Branded Zombie Hunter hats....
Think one can ream that cylinder a little and load 45-70?
ReplyDeleteAnd yea, I don't think Taurus is stupid, or have jumped the shark... I think they're brilliant, and laughing all the way to the bank.
But they do owe Larry some royalties.
P.s. Y'all should read my earliest significant blog post, in which I marvelled at how many bullet holes there were in that place which were not anywhere near where the targets were. I am so glad the Sweety and I had the range to ourselves.
ReplyDeletePublic ranges frighten me. (except maybe if there is a really scary badass range safety officer there, who is well-armed)
Dwight Brown,
ReplyDeleteAs intriguing as I find the mental image of your idea, I confess to having some trouble with the concept of a German hero. Too many World War II movies as a child, I suppose...
[Gob BLuth]C'mon![/Gob Bluth]
ReplyDeleteThis thing's not even chambered in any of the cartridges available in Hornady's Zombie Max lineup.
How am I supposed to use it to slay zombies when it doesn't even take the right kind of ammunition?
It's little things like this that will cause us to lose World War Z.
I could have done without seeing that. I mean, pearl-handled revolvers are bad enough, but really? How do you carve notches into that thing? Granted, you'd have to go one notch per horde, but still.
ReplyDeleteI'll stick with old faithful Taurus - large enough to be a challenge to conceal on my person and light enough to bite when I don't pay attention. And all in a tasteful, subdued brown.
LittleRed1
I would love to disagree but, oddly enough I can't! The whole Zombie thing is just embarrassing. And I like Zombie movies and games.
ReplyDeletewell the .454 round would be good for a tank maybe, or taking down a witch with one shot. but against say a hunter or smoker, or even just the plain horde of zombies? Overkill.
ReplyDeleteI'd buy one only if it came with a barrett m82 muzzle brake as a factory option. Heh.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...
ReplyDeleteNow I have a hankerin' to find one for some quality time with a caliper. Maybe it could be reamed out to .45-70, non-green grips installed, and sit in the safe next to the BFR. (My other Zombie/Brinks gun!)
Not so stupid after all!
It's official. I'm giving up being a small-"l" libertarian. I'm going Heinleinian. One should be able to kill anyone carrying one of those & confiscate their weapons & supplies for one's own use.
ReplyDeleteSound harsh? Well, the post-apocalyptic Earth is a harsh mistress. Deal with it.
I wish I understood this zombie craze. Since I don't I'll just hope that Taurus makes enough money on these things so they can keep makinging those nice Winchester '92 clones. they took over from Rossi. I have one of the old Rossis in .45 Colt with a 24 inch Oct. barrel and would simply love to have a matching saddle ring carbine in the same chambering.
ReplyDeleteThe Freak Brothers reference seemed to go right past everybody without the slightest friction.
ReplyDeleteKids, these days...